Another year passing...

By Vichara

I am partially weighted by the fact that I will turn 51 later this week and yet buoyant as well. Weighed down by the experiences and responsibility (but all ends up good) and buoyant with the abilities that age brings to me with discerning the importance of individual things. Being more decisive when the economy of time dictates it and resting in the moments when it is necessary to gain a new perspective. Yes in reality 51 is not old. My Mum just turned 80 and I have had friends and family members depart from this world at years before my current number, my sister was 43. What I hope and ask for this year is to gain even more levels of awareness and understanding and find more creative ways, not only in my personal life, but also down avenues where we could develop unified causes that cross all barriers of race and religion.

tribulation • \trib-yuh-LAY-shun\ • noun
: distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution; also : a trying experience

Example Sentence:
Over the past year, Sara and Brian have experienced all the trials and tribulations that come with owning one’s first home.

Did you know?
The writer and Christian scholar Thomas More, in his 1534 work "A dialoge of comforte against tribulation," defined the title word as "euery such thing as troubleth and greueth [grieveth] a man either in bodye or mynde." These days, however, the word "tribulation" is typically used as a plural count noun, paired with its alliterative partner "trial," and relates less to oppression and more to any kind of uphill struggle. "Tribulation" derives via Middle English and Old French from the Latin verb "tribulare" (to oppress or afflict), related to "tribulum," a noun meaning "threshing board."